ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has laid into the United States, accusing it of supporting Kurdish militants. His accusation comes days after Turkish troops found the bodies of 13 Turkish soldiers, police and civilians abducted by Kurdish insurgents in a cave complex in northern Iraq. Erdogan on Monday also took aim at a U.S. State Department statement which deplored the deaths but said the United States would condemn the deaths “in the strongest possible terms” if it is confirmed that they died at the hands of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. The victims were discovered in a cave complex in Iraq during an operation against the PKK aimed at freeing them.
